ROGER FEDERER made his earliest exit from Wimbledon for eight years but vowed to come back stronger and hungrier than ever.

The six-time champion crashed out 6-4 3-6 6-1 6-4 in yesterday’s quarter-finals to world number 13 Tomas Berdych, who will play third seed Novak Djokovic in his first Wimbledon semi-final.

It was only Federer’s second defeat at Wimbledon since he went out at the first-round stage to Mario Ancic in 2002. And after also failing to reach the semi-finals at the French Open, Federer has suddenly lost his air of invincibility.

“I can’t wait for Paris and Wimbledon to come around next year, that’s for sure, because they’ve been frustrating tournaments for me,” said Federer.

However, the Swiss ace has warned his rivals not to write him off, insisting he can regain his position of world domination.

“Yeah, I do think that,” Federer insisted. “That’s why I’m here.”

Federer had lived dangerously in the first week of Wimbledon, dropping three sets in his first two matches. Although he got his title defence back on track with straight-sets wins over Arnaud Clement and Jurgen Melzer to reach the last eight, there were signs from yesterday’s opening game that all was not well with the six-time champion.

Berdych, who beat Federer in their last meeting in Miami earlier this year, caused all sorts of problems with his powerful serving and sweetly-struck forehand.

He secured the only break of the first set and, after Federer had levelled, tightened his grip by breaking the world number two’s serve twice in the third set, leaving the champion to admit the better player won.

“I didn’t think I played poorly but I think he went after it,” Federer said.

“I know Berdych. I’ve played him 10 times before. He’s been able to perform more consistently in the last year or so.

“I had my chances. I don’t think I needed to change much,” he added.

“But I was just not playing well enough. And when he had to, he was able to come up with some good stuff. But I definitely gave away this match.”

Federer also took some of the gloss of Berdych’s finest moment by claiming injuries to his back and right knee have affected his performance.

“Today was a different story than Paris. I couldn’t play the way I wanted to play. I have been struggling with a little bit of a back and a leg issue,” he said.

“You can’t concentrate on each and every point because you do feel the pain sometimes. And then you tend to play differently than the way you want to play.

Berdych, 24, refused to be drawn on Federer’s less-than-charitable comments.

“It’s just his point of view,” he said. “That’s what he said and I don’t care.

“I just respect him for what he has achieved. He has his reason for what he said and I’ll just leave it with him.”